Take a look at top quotes from Chargers Head Coach Brandon Staley on Monday afternoon.
Head Coach Brandon Staley
On an injury update regarding WR Mike Williams' ankle:
"He kind of had a reaggravation of it last night. We are going to find out a lot more in the next couple of days about his possibilities for Wednesday's practice, but not a significant re-injury."
On if there is an 'updated timeline' regarding OLB Joey Bosa's return from injury:
"I don't have one that is updated, no."
On his message to QB Justin Herbert after throwing an interception on the final offensive drive:
"You know that when you get put into that type of position, with that little time left, you know that you have to go make plays. I think that's just the nature of being in that type of situation. When the time and score is like that, you can't just be throwing check-downs to get yourself into field goal range. A lot of pressure on both of those plays in that two-minute [situation]. I thought that he gave [WR] Keenan [Allen] a chance, at least on that play. He kind of had to step up [in the pocket] and he gave him a chance, and that's part of playing quarterback. If that same play happened in the third quarter or in the first quarter, it is going to look different. In those last-play type of two-minute situations, you have to try and push it. He was trying to give us a chance."
On the team's 'level of urgency' to 'turn this thing around and make the playoffs':
"We're trying to take it one game at a time. Our focus is going to be on Arizona. We played two really tough games in a row in primetime against two, as you guys know, really quality teams, and they've been great games. I feel like our level [of play] has been high. I think we know exactly where we stand right now, in terms of the context of the NFL landscape. What we need to keep doing is making improvements on our football team, continue to get guys back and make that progress going into the next game. We have to put that one behind us. As tough as it is, last night, and the week before — that's real, those types of games — but you can't let those guys affect your next one. We have to come back on Wednesday with a lot of purpose for Arizona because they're a good team."
On an injury update regarding LB Kenneth Murray, Jr.:
"He had a stinger that did not resolve last night, but he is better today."
On TE Gerald Everett's questionable status entering the game was due to his groin injury:
"That is correct."
On if Everett 'had a reaggravation' of his groin injury:
"No. He had a groin [injury] during the week."
On the offense allowing five sacks of Herbert last night:
"There was the one unlucky one off of the batted ball. That one, where he caught the deflection. But, there were a couple that just happened quick where they were on him fast and he couldn't make a maneuver to either avoid it or throw it away. There were a few last night that he wasn't able to create and make something happen, where, normally, he does such a good job of avoiding that. Those things happen sometimes against a team that can rush, a good pressure team. Sometimes things like that happen. The good thing is that he didn't have any bad turnovers for us last night, when stuff like that happens. That's a strength of his, his ball security."
On if Herbert is instructed to 'bat it down' when a pass gets deflected back to him:
"We would, but your natural reaction, sometimes, it happens so quickly. I'm sure that the more that it happens, the better he will get at deflecting it."
On if Herbert 'is getting a lot of balls batted at the line of scrimmage':
"No, he has a beautiful delivery, great stroke. He's 6-foot-6. I think that it's just the nature of it. Sometimes the defense makes good plays and gets their hands in the passing lane. I wouldn't make too much of that, no."
On S Derwin James, Jr. defending Chiefs TE Travis Kelce on the Chiefs' final offensive drive:
"Two special players who are going at it. Man-to-man, single safety. He made a good catch and was able to turn it up. Give credit to him. There is no one else in the world I would rather have covering him."
On the defense's 'gameplan' for Kelce:
"Things were contested last night. You didn't see him catch anything wide open. We were on him. There was a good mixture of coverage. Lots of different types of rotation, man-to-man, zone. He was able to make a couple of big catches on third down. The one kind of on the breakout where we ended up missing a tackle, and then on the drive, again, he catches a five-yard shallow cross and should have had a rat in the hole, but we didn't. He was able to break that tackle and then turn it up, and another guy misses a tackle. He had a couple of run-after-catch plays, which were big contributions to those three big catches. The two touchdowns, and then the breakout on third down. Outside of those three, everything was tight. We were on him, and we were forcing him to work, and that was the plan. We did a good job of that. Where he really hurts you is manipulating zones where there is no one there and he's able to kind of sit down, break out. [Chiefs QB] Pat [Mahomes] eludes you, creates more time and space, and it's not contested. I felt like we contested passes last night. I'm willing to live with that."
On his takeaways from the Chiefs' final offensive series:
"They made a couple of plays. The first one, I felt like that was a push-off on [CB] Bryce [Callahan], but we were, again, tight. It was a good throw and catch, but we were tight. I felt like we did a good job in the middle part of that drive. Then we had the penalty on third-and-four on Derwin [James Jr.] where I felt like we had a good rush, good coverage, which would have gotten it to fourth down. There was the killer scramble for 16 [yards] when everyone was covered and that is tough because you are playing the coverage that you feel like is the right coverage to play. Then, he was able to make it up the middle. Just rush and coverage at the end, I have to do a better job. Our guys left it all out on the field in that last drive. There weren't any of these wide open zone completions where no one is there and no one is having to work for anything. They just made their way down the field. We were playing them nose to nose and they made some plays to finish it."
On the 'rush plan' on Mahomes' first-down scramble on the Chiefs' final offensive drive:
"Just a four-man rush."
On G Zion Johnson:
"He's progressing. Any time you play a team that has an inside player like [Chiefs DT] Chris Jones, I thought in the first game against them, Zion [Johnson] did really, really well. I thought that last night he had some good snaps, and then there are going to be some snaps where he is learning. He is a rookie. He is seeing things all of the time for the first time and we're glad we have him. He's going to continue to progress. He's one of us, for sure. Any issues that Zion has is purely going to be from an experience standpoint because he has all of the right tools to be working with. He is a great guy, a hard worker, and we're going to keep playing well around him as we go."
On RB Joshua Kelley's injury status:
"I think you should see him back in practice this week."
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